Top links

India Patent Information

A patent protects the owner of an invention from letting other people make, use, sell or import the patented invention without permission.

What is a Patent?

A patent for an invention is the grant of a property right to the inventor.
-In general, the term of a new patent is 20 years.
-Patent grants are effective only within the country territory.
-Under certain circumstances, patent term extensions or adjustments may be available.

Why do I need a patent?

If your invention has market potential and you think that another company could make profits from your invention, you need protection from a patent.
-A patent gives you the right to exclude others from making your product.
-As a patent gives exclusivity, the patent holder has time to market the invention without competition making him/her able to charge higher prices.
-It gives the right to initiate legal action against anyone that is making or selling, without permission, the patent holder invention.
-You can make money by licensing or selling your invention to someone else.
-It gives you priority over third parties wanting to register their patents in countries that do not require registration.

The Registration Process for Patents is very simple and involves following steps :
• Filing of Application for registration of the Patent
• Submission of Power of Attorney duly stamped by Public Notary
• Examination of the Application
• Acceptance or Refusal of the Patent.

Who can file Patent Application in India
Either alone or jointly:
✔ By any person claiming to be true and first inventor(s)
✔ By any person being the assignee of person claiming to
be true and first inventor(s)
✔ By the legal representative of any deceased person who
can immediately after his death is entitled to make such
application

• It should describe the nature of invention & contain the
description of essential features of the invention.
• No need to include claims & details of the manner in which it
to be performedAdvantages of Provisional Specification
• Priority for invention
• No risk of loosing priority
• Liberty to develop
• Disclose to interested person to obtain financial support
• Virtually extend the term
• Utilize for exploring commercial feasibility
• Avoid incurring further expenses, if no commercial possibilityContents of Complete Specification
• Title of the invention
• Field & background of the invention
• Use of the invention
• Prior art in the said field of invention & its drawback(s)
• Comparison between prior art & present invention
• Object (aim) of the present invention
• Summary of the present invention
• Brief description of drawings, if any
• Statement of the invention
• Detailed description of the invention w.r.t. drawings, if any
• Working examples for best method of the invention
• Claims for legal monopoly

What rights a Patent confers on the patentee
If the patent is for a process :-
- the right to prevent others from
- using the process
- offering for sale the product using the
process
- selling the product using the process
- importing the product using the process

What rights a Patent confers on the patenteePost
• Any time after the grant or before expiry of 1 year from the

Patent Application Filing Procedure/Process in India

Filing a patent application in the Indian Patent Office is the first step towards securing a patent to your invention in India. To file a patent application, a set of forms has to be submitted to the patent office. The forms can be submitted online (https://www.ipindiaonline.gov.in/on_line/) if you have a class 3 digital certificate. Alternatively, you can send true copies (hard copies) to the patent office.

Indian patent offices are located at Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai. The patent application has to be filed in the appropriate office based on your/your company’s location. The table below provides the addresses of the patent offices in India and their respective territorial jurisdiction.

Once you have identified the patent office in which you have to file your patent application, it is now time to get an overview of the forms that have to be submitted.

To file a patent application, you will have to submit form 1, form 2, form 3 and form 5. Subsequent to filing these forms with the appropriate fees, you will receive a patent application number from the patent office. Thereafter, you can file form 9 (optional) and form 18. You can download the Indian patent application filing forms.

In the table below, the list of forms that have to be submitted and their respective fees is provided.

Form

Title

Fee (INR)

Comment

Natural person

Other than natural person

1

Application for Grant of Patent

1000

4000

Mandatory

2

Provisional/Complete Specification

No fee*

No fee*

Mandatory

3

Statement and Undertaking Under Section 8

No fee

No fee

Mandatory

4

Declaration as to Inventorship

No fee

No fee

Mandatory

5

Request for Publication

2500

10000

Optional

6

Request for Examination of Application for Patent

2500

10000

Mandatory

* - A fee of 100/sheet (natural person) and 400/sheet (other than natural person) is applicable for each sheet exceeding 30 sheets in a patent specification. Further, a fee of 200/claim (natural person) and 800/claim (other than natural person) is applicable for each claim exceeding 10 claims in the patent specification.

Before reading further, I recommend reading our article “How much does it cost to get a patent in India?” I think it will help you in taking some decisions during the filing process.

It should be noted that Forms 1, 2, 3 and 5 can be submitted online. The remaining forms (forms 9 and 18) have to be submitted to the patent office by sending hard copies of the executed forms. Further, note that if you are filing online, form 1 will have to be filled in the online filing portal. The remaining forms (2, 3 and 5) have to executed and the scanned copies of the same have to be uploaded during filing.

An overview of each of the forms is provided below.

Form 1 - Application for Grant of Patent
As the name suggests, this form is an application for grant of patent in India. In this form, you will have to furnish information, such as, name and address of the inventor(s), name and address of the applicant(s), information corresponding to prior patent applications relating to the current invention, which you or any authorized entity has filed, and some declarations, among other information.

(Added after receiving comments from Mr. Naren) Please note that a local communication address (address in India) has to be provided. This point is of importance to foreign (Non-Indian) applicants.

Form 2 - Provisional/Complete Specification
Form 2 is used to furnish your patent specification. The patent specification can be provisional or a complete patent specification depending of the type of patent application (provisional or complete) you are filing. You might find our article on “What are the different patent filing options?” useful.

If you are filing a provisional patent application, then use the following preamble in the first page of Form 2:
The following specification describes the invention

On the other hand, if you are filing a complete patent application, then use the following preamble in the first page of Form 2:

The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed

Note that, if you are filing offline, 2 copies of the patent specification has to be sent to the patent office. Additionally, count the number of sheets and claims (extra fee for more than 30 sheets and more than 10 claims) and calculate the appropriate fee. While counting the sheets, even the drawing sheets will have to be taken into account.

Form 3 - Statement and Undertaking Under Section 8
Form 3 is used to furnish information/actions relating to patent applications filed in other countries for the current invention. Additionally, any information relating to the rights corresponding to the present patent application has to be furnished. Further, you would be using form 3 to undertake that you will be keeping the patent office informed in writing the details regarding corresponding applications for patents filed outside India.

Form 5 - Declaration as to Inventorship
This application is used to declare the inventors of the subject matter sought to be protected using the current patent application.

Form 9 - Request for Publication
If this form is not filed, then the patent specification will be published by the patent office after 18 months from the priority date (filing of the first patent application for the current subject matter). On the other hand, by filing this form, you can generally have your patent specification published within 1 week from filing this form. Note that the patent rights start from the date of publication of the patent application (enforceable after grant of patent).

Form 18 - Request for Examination of Application for Patent
This form can be filed within 48 months from the priority date. The patent office will not consider your patent application for examination unless this form is filed. Hence, if you wish to expedite the patenting process, filing of form 9 and 18 at an early stage is advised.